The Fastnet Race and CSORC
The Fastnet Race has been held since 1925 when it attracted seven entries and was won by Jolie Brise, a converted pilot cutter that can still be seen sailing around the solent. The early races continued in the same vein, with small numbers of adapted work boats and cruising vessels competing. The race continued to grow until by the 70s over 300 boats came to the start line. The 1979 race hit the headlines when the fleet ran into an unforecast and very unusual storm. A combination of strong winds and a 90 degree windshift produced massive and unpredictable seas, which resulted in 15 yachts sinking. This led to a tightening of safety regulations and a 300 boat limit to entries.

Prior to the formation of CSORC, CSSA were involved in offshore racing and indeed entered the 1979 event. Skippered by Julian Forrester, Mosika Alma was knocked down and rolled on more than one occasion, but made it into Falmouth. Her windex forms the major part of the Mosika Alma trophy which CSORC awards for the best achievement in offshore racing each year (right).

Since then CSORC has entered most Fastnet races, either with our own boat or a boat chartered for the occasion. The race is, of course, held every two years.

How to follow our intrepid crew

RORC Tracker site. During the race all the boats will have tracking devices on board and you can follow their progress on the RORC website.
CSORC Fastnet blog. Wherever possible the crew will be relaying nuggets of life on board to a team of technology experts on shore who will update the blog.

Previous Fastnet Races
Read about previous campaigns in 1995 , 1997 and 1999

Crew: Trevor Drew (Skipper), Phil Armitage (First Mate & Grommit Watch Leader), Tracey Hindmarsh (Wallace Watch Leader), Brian Ash, Phil Bartlett (PJ), Chris Benson, Keith Richie, John Storey, & George Tetley.

The crew assembled the night before (all except George, who was still partying at the end of Cowes Week) and woke up bright and early for the big race. Most of the boat prep had already been done, spraying lube on the lubable bits and doing a full inventory to make sure we didn’t forget anything. We had the thumbs up that the tracker was working so, after rigging our storm trysail and jib as required by RORC, we dropped them and made our way to Cowes under engine to pick up George. Mission accomplished, we hoisted the two hankies and motored to the registration gate. That sorted, we set the proper sails and mooched around, soaking up the increasing tension as the start time came closer.They'd scoffed when I predicted a spinnaker start the evening before – but not today! It was light, but a perfect run so we didn’t even bother with the jib, hoisting the number 1 spinny directly. We took a position at the middle of the line, gybing and cutting south to pick up the countercurrent off Gurnard as the last of the flood died, before it turned to our advantage.

We stayed well up in the field, all the way to the forts, gybing down the course to obtain max VMG. The wind died at Hurst narrows but soon returned, from the southwest, necessitating a beat that was to stay with us for most of the night.

We took a southerly route out of the Needles channel, staying fairly well offshore. But it was soon clear we weren’t going to make the critical tidal gate of Portland, so we tacked north to provide the option of a kedge in shallower water. However, there was sufficient wind to stem the bulk of the foul tide. We zig-zagged through the night and, as the tide finally turned again, we were only about a mile back from our original position - could have been a lot worse! Finally, the wind strengthened and we started racing again.

The dawn of Tuesday found us in Marazion Bay, in a benign sea with a hint of ocean swell remaining. The wind was light and nor'westerly, so we had a difficult choice – go north or go west. We tried the westerly course for a while, but found it to have quite a lot of south in it, and would add complications to our navigation, since it would bean skirting the Scillies so we opted for the northerly route, threading our way between the west coast and the Traffic Separation Zone, and, once clear, tried to make some westerly again. But the north-westerly persisted, so we finally started north, much favoured by the VMG data. This set the scene for the next 24 hours, as we climbed north-east towards the Fastnet rock.

We had a pretty good day and some dolphins came to cheer us up even further. We tried our best to make some westing but a windshift made our northerly route significantly favoured, so up we went. But Wednesday morning gave us a nasty surprise, in the form of a flat domestic battery, despite routine charging sessions. We never got to the bottom of the problem, but increasing the charging to twice a day kept us in the race.

The strong westerly that we had beaten against, all the way from Land's End, finally decided to leave us to our fates, dumping us 6 miles from the rock. We spun for a little while before the weather gods decided to have a bit more fun and blanketed us in fog. And, just to add a little spice, the water gods decided to join in and threw in a tidal current, carrying us straight for the rock. After about an hour, at 4-ish in the morning, by which time Grommit watch had taken over, we noticed a gentle breeze - from the east! It was hardly enough to flutter the Rolex pennant on the backstay but we soon had the main and jib pinned out. The old girl was game, but hardly moving. We hauled out and launched the No 1 spinnaker and were slowly on our way. We passed quite a few boats on our journey past the rock - none seemed to have detected or thought of the spinny and, of course, in the thick fog, had little notice of our presence. We finally rounded the rock on Thursday morning at 05:17 in fog so thick we sometimes couldn’t even see the light.

We had a straightforward sail all the way from the Pantaenius buoy, and were able to launch the No2 spinnaker again about halfway across the Irish Sea, which we held all the way to Bishop Rock. The dolphins returned, spurring us on our way. The spinny had to come down a couple of times after the Lizard but was soon up again. We finally turned the corner into Plymouth Sound without mishap and finished the race under spinnaker in the early hours of Saturday morning, dropping it in a neat handbrake turn behind the breakwater. Less than two days from the rock! Our elapsed times were 3d 16:57:47 to the rock and 5d 13:08:06 to the finish. We were lucky to be given a berth in Sutton Harbour, so really enjoyed the party atmosphere - needless to say, champagne and a few beers were drunk on our arrival! Well done to all the crew and, in particular Tracey, who kept us so well fed that our morale was never at risk!

You can replay our race (IRC3) on the RORC website at http://fastnet.rorc.org/2009-fleet-tracking.html

Read more about the race as it unfurled at our blog on http://csorc.blogspot.com

Trevor Drew

With grateful thanks to Chris Looney on RIB “Raven” for the off-boat photos.

RORC De Guingand Bowl - Cowes – around marks (100 miles), 13-14th June 2009
Yacht: Sigma 38 Flying Formula GBR3800T

Crew: Trevor Drew (Skipper), Phil Armitage (First Mate & Watch Leader), Tracey Hindmarsh (Watch Leader), Brian Ash, Phil Bartlett (PJ), Chris Benson, Keith Richie, John Storey, & George Tetley.

The course for this race is set the day before the race, so we spent the Friday night in Cowes, to pick it up from the RORC office. We were to be sent east from the line, around the Nab tower, then off west to the East Shambles buoy off Portland Bill, returning east to North Head, followed by a loop to a buoy off Poole and returning to North Head for the finish.

There was a light westerly wind at the start, so, keeping in mind the strong easterly tide, we carefully measured our progress to ensure we could make against the tide, so as not to get taken over the line. Luckily, there was just enough, so, as the cannon sounded, we turned downwind and hoisted the spinnaker. From there, it was an easy broad reach, but as we made our way down the eastern Solent the wind began to veer to the point where it was hard to hold our course with the spinnaker, so, eventually, down it came. We approached the Nab and rounded nicely, ensuring a clear line by putting in another stitch to ensure we didn’t get swept onto it as we tacked.

From there, it was a long, long beat all the way to East Shambles – luckily the port tack almost laying the line, so not much tacking to do. Clearly, we were sailing smoothly, as we picked up a pigeon which rested on the spreader and took off at St Catherine’s!

We made good progress to Poole Bay, where, as dusk fell, the wind abandoned us at the same time that the tide changed, leaving us floundering off Swanage for what seemed like an eternity. But finally, the wind strengthened and we were able to make our way around the headland and off to the Bill.

Our morning approach to the upwind mark, East Shambles, was uneventful, save for seeing J109 Jangada Too (Richard Palmer, CSORC Treasurer) going the other way, only about a mile and a half from the mark. Our return was a pleasant spinnaker ride, until, once more, Poole Bay did its usual imitation of a mini Sargasso Sea and left us becalmed. After a few frustrating hours, with the tide threatening to change, the wind finally picked up and carried us to North Head. As we were preparing to round it, we noticed the Committee boat flying Flag S – shortened course and so we finished, crossing the line at 13:10. Our result was 13th in IRC3, 22nd of 80 overall.

Crew: Trevor Drew (Skipper), Phil Armitage (First Mate & Watch Leader), Tracey Hindmarsh (Watch Leader), Brian Ash, Phil Bartlett (PJ), Chris Benson, Keith Richie, John Storey, & George Tetley.

The crew assembled on Friday evening and, after giving the boat a good check over, we headed for our usual overnight in Cowes. The forecast was for light, variable winds – “cyclonic” is a term I’ve learnt to dread and it appeared a few times in the forecasts!

The following morning, we assembled at the start gate and after a reasonable start, we quickly hoisted the no. 2 spinnaker which, though the wind was light, enabled us to point higher than many others. We found ourselves third in the fleet at Yarmouth, but were seriously headed and lost a few places getting the spinny down.

As we cleared Hurst narrows, the wind died and we were totally becalmed, gently pirouetting westwards when it was our original intention to go much further south, where we believed the more consistent winds would lie. But the wind and tide had other ideas, so we made the most of it. Luckily, by the time the tide turned, a sea breeze came to rescue us from being swept right back again, and we made slow progress towards Portland Bill. The fickle wind kept us there until nightfall, when a breeze again sprang up and took us to Salcombe, where it once again left us to stew. By Sunday afternoon, we were finally able to see our destination, the imposing Eddystone lighthouse, with it’s stump of Smeaton’s original light keeping it company on the rock. A fair number of other yachts were rounding it, but our progress was painfully slow and, with the tide due to turn, by worst fears were recognized and we hovered just off the light, waiting for a chance to round. The dangers of rounding a lee mark in such conditions were not lost on us! Eventually, a breeze sprang up – from the east, enabling the spinnaker to be brought into play. We finally rounded at about 18 00 on Sunday, taking a wide sweep to ensure a safe rounding.

The wind was no kinder on the return and we fell into another wind hole off Start Point. Eventually, we were once again on our way and managed an excellent run all the way to Portland Bill through Sunday night, where it promptly left us. We made painfully slow eastward progress against the tide, creeping in towards Lulworth to gain some shelter from it. It was not until Monday evening that we had sufficient breeze to make it to the finishing line, off North Head, below Hurst Castle. We crossed at 21:53, giving us 7th position in our class (IRC3) and 38th overall.

All in all, a very challenging and frustrating race, but has set us up well for our ultimate goal involving that other lighthouse – the Rolex Fastnet race itself.

To follow our route, including some interesting tidal influences, click here to view the GPS track.

Trevor Drew

RORC CERVANTES TROPHY – Cowes – Le Havre
Boat: Sigma 38 Flying Formula GBR3800T

Crew: Trevor Drew (Skipper), Phil Armitage (First Mate & Watch Leader), Tracey Hindmarsh (Watch Leader), Brian Ash, Phil Bartlett (PJ), Chris Benson, Keith Richie, John Storey, & George Tetley.

We set off from Ocean Village on Friday evening, for Cowes, to be ready for the 0750 first gun. In CSORC tradition, the names of the two watches were decided in the pub, with “Wallace” and “Grommit” carrying the vote.

The start line, off the Royal Yacht Squadron, was quite a busy one, with over 100 boats in the four classes and the big boys, including two TP52s, lurking for position at the outer end, for their later start. Our Sigma 38 was one of four in IRC3 class setting off at 08:00. The forecast was for light westerly wind, veering northwest and reducing in strength. The shortest of the three courses was therefore chosen, in deference to the forecast light winds. We had such a good start I was a little concerned we’d over-cooked it (note to self – not a “round the cans” race!) but there was no second gun, so we were OK and held our own on the beat towards the Needles. Things got more confused as the later, faster classes caught up with us as we rounded the Needles Fairway buoy. We had readied the spinnaker pole and, despite the relatively gentle breeze, I had decided on the heavier kite, as I felt it would behave and cope better with the increased pressure of the beam reach. The fleet separated after the mark, with the majority of the fleet taking a more southerly route. As usual, we found ourselves in the minority! But, since both Phil and I had calculated similar courses, taking the neap tides into account, we stuck to our guns.

The long, long spinnaker run continued for many hours, but the anticipated veer we hoped would match our heading didn’t materialise to the extent we hoped. As the apparent wind moved forward, so our concern over the merits of the kite over the No1 genoa increased. A brief experiment, however, demonstrated our original choice was the right one, with over a knot benefit with the spinnaker. Our night-time approach to the second mark of the course, the A5 Racon westerly cardinal off Le Havre, was a little further off than we planned, and the spinnaker came down. Our approach to the finish near the entrance to Le Havre was uneventful, with the strobe of the Committee vessel clearly visible among the plethora of lights of the Seine entrance. We crossed the line at 0134, rounded the outer mark and set off for home. A little rain during the night of our return failed to dampen the pleasure of a very enjoyable race and our provisional result, 12th of 26 in IRC3, 34th overall in IRC and fastest of the Sigma 38s, was a very satisfying one!

Trevor Drew

The next race in CSORC's Fastnet campaign will be to the Eddystone Rock over the weekend 23/24 May.